Railroad-tie.



PATENTED JAE. 15, 1907.

@HAM.

RAILRGAU TIE.

AIELIGATXOH FILED GUT. 16, 1996.

flfl l Z6757 Zm MENTOR.

A TTOR/VE 1 5 PATENT QFFIUE.

DANIEL (JASSEhL GRAHAM, OF PULASKI,

VIRGINIA.

RAILROAD-TIE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 15, 1907. I

-- 'cationfilcd October 16,1906. Serial No. 339.248.

To all whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, DANIEL CAssnLL GRAHAM, a citizen of the United States, re-

siding at Pulaski, in the county of Pulaski and State of Virginia, have invented a new and useful Railroad-Tie, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to beds for railti-on, designed so as to permit the rails to be easily and firmly secured thereto and of suchcomposition as to be comparatively inexpensive to manufacture.

The obj ect of the invention is the provision of fastening means for securing the rails to the ties, which means is designed with the idea of conserving to a maximum extent the strength and solidity of the ties.

With these general objects in view and others of a more specific character, as will. appear as the deszription proceeds, the invention comprises the various novel features of construction and arrangement of parts, which wiilbe more fully set forth hereinafter and defined with particularity in the claims appended hereto.

In the accompanying drawings, whii h illustrate one of the embodiments of the invention, Figure 1 is a plan view of a portion of a railroad-track, showing a part of one of the rails and ties in section. Fig. 2 is a transverse section through one of the rails, showing the means for fastenii'ig the same to a tie. Fig. 3 is a fragmentary perspective view of a rail-tie and clamping-plate shown disassor-ialed and in their relative positions.

I Corresponding parts in the several ignres are indicated throughout by similar iaraetors of reference.

Referring to the drawings, 1 designates the rails, which may be of the usual construction, and 2 the ties. The ties 2 are molded in a suitable form, and the composition of which the ties are made consists, preferably, of one part sand, one part cement, and two parts gravel. In practice this has been found to produce a tie of greatstrength and hardness, and while these proportions are satisfactory in certain instances they maybe clninged ac cording to the requirements of any given place. The form of the tie is preferably rectangular in transverse cross-section, with its longestdimension horizontal, and the tie is of the same transverse cross-section throughout its length. As far as the invention is concerned, however, the particular shape of the tie is unimportant. The tie is molded with a rectangular depression or socket 3 on its top surfare and a slight distance inwardly from each end of the tie. The depressions are lorated so as to liedirectlyunder therails 1, and in each depression is arranged a clampingplate 4, th at is held from horizontal movement in any direction by fitting snugly in the depression 3. By preference the walls 5 of the depression Qare outwardly and the sides 6 of the plate at are shaped to correspond, the

flare of the walls 5 serving to prevent the said walls from cracking or breaking, due to lateral strains incident to the passage of a train, such strains of course being greatest at the bends in the road-bed. The top surface of the clamping-plate 4 is cut away to form a pocket 7 for receiving the base 8 of one of the rails The poi-ket 7 is provided with two parallel vertical walls 9, between which the base 8 snugly engages. By having the walls 9 vertical a rail-section can be easily put in place or removed by a bodily vertical movement.

The railsare secured to the ties by means of bolts that pass vertically through theties, one at each end thereof, through the clampingplates, and the base of the rail. To accom- .modate the bolts, each tie is molded with a vertical opening disposed centrall below the depression 3. The lower end. of t e opening ,is of square cross-section, as indicated at 10,

Figs. 2- and 3, and the upper ortion of the opening is round, as indicate at 11. The belt 12 is of ordinary construction, having a square head which fits in the square portion 10 of the bolthole in the tie. The shank 13 passes upwardly through the round portion 1] of the hole and through an opening 14, ar,

ranged centrally in the clamping-plate 4, thence through the base of the adjacent rail. Instead of the portion 10 of the bolt-hole being sq-uare it'can be of any other angular cross-section, so as to conform to the head of the bolt, the engagement of the bolt-head with the opening serving to prevent the bolt from turning. The web 15 is cut away transversely at 16 at regular intervals corresponding to the distance between ad acent ties. The base portion of the rail bination with a clamping-plate is permitted to remain below the opening 16 of the web, and. the base is provided with an a erture l7 through which the upper end of t e bolt-shank 13 extends. The transverse opening 16 of the web 15 is large enough to receive the nut 18 and permit the same to be screwed on the bolt by means of a suitable wrench, such a s ianner ore, wrench. By this arrangement the rails are firmly and rigidly clamped to the plates 4 and to the ties. Since only one bolt is employed to secure each rail to a tie, the weakening of the latter is avoided to a great extent. As shown in Fig. 2, the nut 18 extends beyond the web 15 at each side, and "for this reason the fislnplates at the rail-joints will be recessed to lit over the nuts, as will be readily understood.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with the accrmipanying drawings,

the advantages of the construction, it is be heved, will be readily appreciated by those skilled in the art to which the invention ape )ortainls, so that further description thereof is deemed unnecessary, and while I. have de scribed the principle of operation. of the in. vention, together with the apparatus which I now consider to be the best embodiment thereof, I desire to have it understood that the apparatus shown is merely illustrative and that various changes maybe made when desired as are within the scope of the invention.

What is claimed is-- l. A railroad-tie made of plastic materiav and molded with a depression in its top sur face adjacent each end and with avorticallyextending opening at each de rcssion, in

combination with a plate seatec in the depression of? the tie, a rail resting on the plate which is provided with an opcningin its base, and a bolt extending through the tie opening and opening of the rail for securing the rail to the tie and preventing longitudinal movement of the rail.

2. A railroad-tie made of plastic material and molded with avertically-extending opening, in combination with a rail having an opening in its base, a bolt extending through the opening of the tie and having its threaded end uppermost, and a nut on the bolt.

3. A. railroad-tie made o'tplastio material and molded with a depression an d a verticallyextcnding opening at the depression, in comseated in the depression and having an opening, a rail on I l l l l 1 l 'ingplate shaped to fit in the said depression,

parallel walls on the clamping-plate, a rail having its base snugly fitted between said walls and provided with a vertical opening and means extending through the plate and opening of the rail-for securing the rail and clamping-plate to the tie.

5. The combination of a railroad-tie having vertical opening, a rail having an opening in its base, and a the openings of the tie and rail for the latter together.

6. The combination with a railroad-tie having a vertically-extending opening adjacent each end, a rail. located over each openclamping bolt extending through v ing and having its web cut away transversely and a vertical opening in the base of the rail at the cuteaway portion, a plate interposed between the tie and rail, a bolt having its shank extending upwardly through the tie and plate and. through the opening in the base of the rail, and a' nut on the bolt disposed in the cut-away portion Of the rail.

7. The combination with a. railroad-tie provided with a depression on its top surface and a vertical opening at the depression which is of angular orosssection at its lower end, a clamping-plate seated in the depression and provided with spaced parallel walls, a. rail having its base confined between the walls and provided with a transverse hole in the web and with a vertical opening in the base of the rail adjacent the cut-away por tion, a bolt in the opening of the tie which extends through the clamping-plate and opcning in the base of the .rail and is held 

